Guillermo's HAUNTED MANSION Hatbox Ghost?

Hey folks, Harry here... Some HAUNTED MANSION geeks have been scouring the web looking for indications of life for their project. And over at Illusion Industries' website in their DESIGN area, they found something that looks like Bernie Wrightson's HATBOX GHOST. Now... so far as I know, Wrightson has never designed a HATBOX GHOST, but damn if that didn't stop ILLUSION INDUSTRIES from doing something that looks exactly like that. ALSO... According to ILLUSION INDUSTRIES list of projects, they haven't been tapped to do work for HAUNTED MANSION, and given they haven't worked with Guillermo in the past... well, it probably means that they do not have a gig on Guillermo's HAUNTED MANSION.

So, what is this?

First of all - that is absolutely the way I'd love to see the HATBOX GHOST looking in Guillermo's production of HAUNTED MANSION. I'd love one of these at geek headquarters and whomever the sculptor is... they're fairly godlike in my opinion, that's just awesome.

This could be one of several things. A sculptor at Illusion Industries could have just been a fan of Disneyland's HAUNTED MANSION and of Bernie Wrightson and just did this because he knew that it must be sculpted by him because the world would destroy itself if it didn't happen. It could be that Guillermo has asked a selection of companies to bid via creating a HATBOX GHOST and he'll decide which companies work on it based upon their interpretation. Or someone could have commissioned them to create this just because they're a huge fan and had the money to pay for it. IF it is for Guillermo's HAUNTED MANSION, and ILLUSION INDUSTRIES posted it on their website... well, there'll be angry calls soon. But honestly, it just looks like something done with a ton of love and talent to me. Let us bask in its glory!

Ye of little faith, no sooner does this story go out than I get an email from someone with a REAL HATBOX GHOST by Guillermo! Thanks Frank!

As a certifiable Haunted Mansion geek, I can tell you this has nothing to do with Guillermo or the Haunted Mansion (except maybe as fan art). It's a casting from a sculpture that's been for sale for years -- I bought one myself 3 years ago at the October Shadows show over at Rick Baker's studio.

It's a piece called "The Victorian Ghoul" by Martin Astles.
http://www.gallerynucleus.com/detail/8268
It's obviously inspired by the Hatbox Ghost though (and it's labeled as DesignHatBoxGhost on the Illusion Industries website).

It's been, what, eight years since the Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion? It's like the Ang Lee Hulk and the Edward Norton Hulk...were even Hulk fans interested in seeing another Hulk movie so soon? It used to be that a few decades needed to pass before a new remake of a project would be done, now it's shrunken down to less than a decade. I can't wait for 2015's remakes of Inception, Kick-Ass and Tropic Thunder.

First of all, exactly who are you calling a "geek"? — MORTAL! I'm the restless spirit that unearthed this corpse-like figure, so to speak.
Secondly, I believe that this figure would make an IDEAL character concept design for, well, me — in Guillermo Del Toro's upcoming "Haunted Mansion" movie, of course, NOT the Disneyland attraction — to which I have yet to return and only Imagineer Tony Baxter and the bean counters at Team Disney Anaheim know why. (In truth, a few others do too, but they can't talk about it.)
This character design evokes pathos, has depth, hints at a possible seafaring backstory, appears once gentlemanly, perhaps wealthy, worldly, cunning, crafty... It has MANY possibilities. Furthermore, it would work as prosthetic makeup applied to a living, breathing, foolish mortal actor's face, as opposed to the use of CGI or puppetry. I like this figure — A LOT. I'm not too fond of its hat though. It needs to be re-sized to fit the dapper doppelganger's skull properly.
As for the artist, it is Martin Astles who works at Illusion Industries. The figure's original title was "The Victorian Ghoul," but its file name is currently "Hatbox Ghost" at the II website. I truly believe that this design might have been in the running for the Del Toro film characterization of yours ghoully. If it wasn't, it most certainly should be. It is very much how I see such a devilishly handsome and elegant ghost in a Del Toro film.
And, yes, please feel free to bask in my glory in all of my various artistic interpretations. And please, tell Disney to put me back until they're sick of hearing it. I afterlive for the day that I return to The Haunted Mansion. Until then, I'll just hang out in MaliBOO and enjoy the view — of Elvira.

There's no 100% official story but certainly characters. Hatty, Master Gracey, the Hitchhiking trio all have unofficial names, a variety of ghost brides over the years including Constance the Black Widow and the tragic Melanie Ravenswood of the Western-styled Phantom Manor in Paris, etc.

I was just contacted by the company & the sculptor. It was sculpted shortly after Guillermo announced it as a project as a pro-active bid to get involved in the project by the sculptor, Martin Astles - the lead sculptor at Illusion Industries. So it was made in an attempt to land a gig. BTW...

Martin Astles is one of MY Facebook friends, and I'M the one who found the image on Illusion Industries' site, put two and two together and put the word out on Twitter, Facebook and MiceChat.
Although this isn't THE design (and I never said that it was but merely that it was a possibility), it gives Haunted Mansion fans a clue as to what has been proposed and considered. And if the caliber of this work is any indication, movie goers are truly going to be in for a ghoulishly delightful treat!